A user on TikTok has sparked discussion after claiming that, upon being rehired at their job, they discovered they were being paid less than before—but only when they decided to quit a second time.
In a video with over 930,000 views as of Friday, TikTok user Jannet (@jannet.camacho) explains her story.
According to Jannet, she usually gets paid via direct deposit, meaning that she doesn’t see the exact breakdown of her pay and hours. However, when she left her job for a second time, they asked her to come in to pick up her last paycheck.
“I’m looking at the paycheck…[and] I was under the impression that I was getting paid — last time when I was working for the company I was getting paid $16.50 the hour, and I was under the impression that I was at least getting paid $15 this whole time,” she explains.
Upon looking at her paycheck, she discovered that her true wage was $14.50 an hour.
“That’s one more dollar than what I was making when I was working in Chipotle back in 2018,” she details.
The video closes with her showing what she purchased with her final paycheck.
In the comments section, users questioned whether a level of pay that low was even legal in New York, where the TikTok appears to be based.
“Is that even acceptable here in nyc? Don’t we all have to get paid the minimum wage $15 the hour?” asked a user.
“Girlll that’s illegal minimum wage is 15,” added another.
In truth, it depends on where exactly Jannet lives in New York. If she lives in the city, it appears that these commenters are correct; the New York Department of Labor lists the city’s minimum wage at $15 as of the end of 2022. However, wages outside of the city have a minimum of $14.20 per hour.
Both wages will be increasing on January 1, with the city’s minimum wage going up to $16 and the state’s minimum wage going up to $16.
@jannet.camacho Picking up my last paycheck 🫣
♬ original sound – JANNET
Other commenters simply griped about their wages.
“And i complain about $20 an hour,” said a user.
“Me getting paid $9 a hour,” added another.
“Yet here I am complaining about my $26 an hour,” stated a third.
The Daily Dot reached out to Jannet via email.